If retailers think the Internet permanently changed the way people research and ultimately shop, they haven't seen anything yet. If merchants want to get scared in a hurry, they should try downloading either the eBay app or the new Amazon Price Check mobile app (both for iPhone). Each app lets you scan a UPC code on any package and not only call up product information, but even see better offers. The Amazon app lets you buy from a range of sources on the spot using your Amazon account.

Understanding consumer intent and knowing how to meet consumer needs seem like the perfect combination to determine the type of ad to serve up in any given scenario. It could become the key that unlocks nirvana for companies tapping behavioral targeting. I'm not convinced the industry has reached that point, though it's close.

If publishers don't start making the most of the data they collect on user behavior, then someone else already piggy-backing on their site will. As cookies start flying every which way to feed this complex ad-targeting infrastructure online, the big topic for content providers is "data leakage." Who is collecting data on a publisher's users via third-party cookies and without the publisher's knowledge or consent? We have already seen this year some yield optimizers try to service this worry among their publisher partners. A new category of tag/cookie containers has cropped up, promising to give publishers greater control over the ...

Publishers Clearing House (PCH) ran a six-month pilot program supported by TRUSTe, which supplies privacy policies and trademarks, in an effort to educate consumers about behaviorally targeted ads. Marketers and advertisers, however, need to take program's findings with a grain of salt because the company conducting the survey supports the technology.

It looks as if the recent public scrutiny of online privacy and data collection, including controversial reports on the issue from the Wall Street Journal, have rattled the Obama Administration. The Journal itself reports this morning that the White House is about to unveil new legal proposals to control the industry and suggest a new watchdog to oversee Internet privacy.

Those who follow MediaPost's search news know I've become fascinated by the collision of search engine marketing and social signals. In fact, it left me wondering how the integration of the two will influence behavioral targeting. Here's what I've learned.

Just when you thought that the roll-out of industry self-policing efforts was going to stave off digital advertising regulations, last week's panel on the topic at OMMA AdNets certainly suggested the topic is as lively and undecided as ever.

Buy a company overseas for its proven technology and adapt it for other markets worldwide. It's a classic global expansion strategy for tech companies. Now it appears the online advertising industry caught on to create more transparency.